Debate contribution: Cost of Doing Business

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 2 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

2 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Cost of Doing Business

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4981637

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Local businesses across our region are suffering. They struggle to pay their bills and face relentless pressure from online competition and falling footfall on our high streets. Now they are being hit again, this time by a steep rise in employer's National Insurance contributions. However, let us be clear: this is not a new issue but a crisis that has been building for years. Businesses across the region are still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis that followed. Those are not abstract forces but real pressures that are felt every day by traders in our town centres, local employers and the workers and families whom they support. A report by Ulster University called 'The impact of the increased Cost of Doing Business' lays bare the scale of the challenge. Let me tell you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, it makes for grim reading. The report warns that the combined effect of National Insurance contribution increases and changes to the national living wage will fall hardest on Northern Ireland for three key reasons: our average earnings are lower than those anywhere else in the UK; we have more people who are employed in low-paid work; and our community and public service providers have limited scope to absorb further cost increases. That is not just a statistical anomaly but the result of years of political failure by Governments who have either been absent or unwilling to act. While other Administrations across the UK have introduced targeted support or fiscal interventions to shield their businesses, the Government in Northern Ireland have let time pass. They have allowed pressure to mount and have compounded the crisis through inaction. The result has been devastating. We have the highest share of workers on the minimum wage in the UK: one in 10. That means that a part-time worker on the minimum wage now costs an employer 14% more to employ. For small businesses that are already battling to stay open, that is an enormous burden. The crisis is not just hitting retail but is hammering the voluntary and community organisations, our GP practices and dental surgeries, our hospitality and tourism employers and our creative and cultural industries. Those are the people and organisations that care for us when we are sick, support our most vulnerable, feed our families and keep the lights on in our towns and villages. Failure to support them is failure to support the very fabric of our society. When local businesses close, it is not just the closure of a shop but the loss of jobs, local services, pride in our place and confidence in our economy. It is another blow to towns such as mine in Derry. We see businesses in my Foyle constituency close every week not because they are mismanaged but because the conditions in which they are expected to survive have become impossibly hostile. Derry should be thriving, and our high streets should all be full of life, with shoppers, tourists and local entrepreneurs, but, instead, they are filled with vacancy signs. The National Insurance hike is only part of the problem, and I have seen first-hand how the current challenges compound that. Our energy prices are among the highest in Europe due to underinvestment in our grid and delays in delivering the North/South interconnector. Our business rates system is outdated, antiquated and unfair, punishing regeneration instead of rewarding it. Our broken waste water infrastructure is blocking new homes, stalling commercial investment and deterring business expansion.

Those are not theoretical issues; they are barriers to growth, plain and simple.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned that the UK Budget will leave businesses carrying the weight of an astronomical quarter of a trillion pounds in new taxes. While the increase in the employment allowance is welcome, the FSB has said that the Budget contains little to inspire growth or entrepreneurship. Retail NI has also raised the alarm, setting out a five-point recovery plan that includes the reconvening of the high street task force; the creation of a cost of doing business advisory forum; and planning reform to support town centre revitalisation. The message is clear: Governments, at all levels, must act to address that perfect storm. Despite those urgent calls, little progress has been made. I understand that these are difficult problems, but they are solvable if there is the political will to solve them. The Executive must stop sitting on their hands. We can take real, practical steps: investing in energy infrastructure and delivering the North/South interconnector to reduce costs; reforming business rates so that they reward investment and support our town centres; fixing our waste water infrastructure so that we can unlock development; and, crucially, reconvening the high street task force to create a joined-up, cross-departmental strategy to back local businesses. That is why today's motion matters. It asks for the bare minimum in response to a crisis that is already well under way. Its asks should not be controversial; they should be common sense. Our businesses do not need more warm words. They need action and reform, and they need government to finally be on their side. Northern Ireland can be a great place to do business. We have the talent, creativity and determination, but that potential will continue to be wasted if we remain on the path of delay and denial. We must act now before more businesses are lost, more workers are laid off and more communities are hollowed out. The Executive need to take action today, stand up for local businesses and jobs and do what it takes to turn the crisis around.

946 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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